Johnson must learn from our faith
schools
SURPRISE, surprise — the British Government seems to have backed
down over plans to make faith schools take more children from other religions.
Education Secretary Alan Johnson has announced he is abandoning his plans
to order faith-based schools to admit quotas of pupils who were not part
of its religion after talks with church leaders.
Unfortunately what he has not done is admit the plans were muddle-headed
and patently wrong.
The government’s assault on faith schools sprang from its seeming
preoccupation with appeasing certain sections of the tabloid press who
are currently intent on demonising Muslims.
But what it failed to remember is there are scores of faith-based schools
catering for various other groupings including Catholics, Church of England
and a host of others.
It was their protests that made the government backtrack and realise it
was in grave danger of alienating a significant portion of the electorate.
As we pointed out on these pages last week, faith schools have an enviable
track record in providing children with the right environment to best
foster academic achievement.
Far from being a problem, many of them offer an example of how schooling
in this country can be improved.
But in its headlong rush to pander to those demanding action over an irrational
fear the government decided it would latch onto the issue to try to bolster
its flagging poll ratings.
The fact that Mr Johnson has now decided to back down can only be welcomed.
However, you cannot help but feel his time would have been better spent
trying to learn why faith schools are so popular and then using that knoweldge
to inculcate the same standards in other educational establishments.
But then again, maybe that path wouldn’t have garnered him as
many headlines.
One phone call can prevent so many families suffering
IT’S a terrible nightamre.
A close member of your family goes missing — without so much as
a goodbye or an explanation.
From then on there are days, months, years of uncertainty. Are they still
alive?
What was so terrible that they felt the only course of action was to sever
all links with those who loved them?
As our report in this issue illustrates there are still too many Irish
families going through this heartbreak on a daily basis.
The faces we show on our front cover are ordinary men and women who for
one reason or another have vanished.
Their families are desperate to hear from them — whether it be a
solitary telephone call, letter or message to let them know they are still
alive and well.
That simple act may never lead to a reconciliation — but at least
it would lessen some of the suffering.
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